But then there’s a point where the rock I need to grip feels too far out of reach, and I’m afraid I’m going to fall. A mind-numbing panic takes me over, and one of the men notices it.
He says, “???? ?? ?????”*and being the idiot I am, I do exactly that. I look down. My head spins. We’re dizzyingly high.
“??? ???? ?? ????!”*I gasp, gripping the rope so tight my skin stretches over my knuckles and the blood drains from them, turning them white.
“???????,tension?? ???”*
I shake my head firmly, all resolve to complete this thing gone. I’m determined to stay here, to go neither up nor down unless a chopper comes to fetch me and deposits me on solid ground. I can’t do this, I can’t—
“Krishna!”
I inch my eyes open, looking up at the source of the voice. It’s Rudra. His head pokes over the edge of the cliff and he stretches his hand out toward me.
“You can do this!”
“I can’t!”
“You can! Just look at me. Don’t look away.”
I scan his face, knowing I’ll be damned if I do, but he looks so earnest,genuinelyconcerned for me and my safety... and those eyes. God. They anchor me.
I suck in a deep breath, wait for the panic to subside just a little, and let go of the rope with one hand. It’s a mighty stretch, grabbing the rock way above me, trusting that my hands will take my weight when I lift my leg and rest it on the groove the men point to, calling out encouraging words to me.
“??, ???? ??!”*
I grunt, straining to hold on, barely swinging on the rope for a few moments.
And then my feet find stability.
“??...??...????!??????!”*
The rest of the climb is quicker, and while I don’t hold Rudra’s gaze the whole time—because, well, I need to focus on where I’m keeping my hands and feet—every time I glance up, his hand is outstretched, and he’s always looking at me. It pumps confidence into me, and when I’m near the top, I grab his hand, relieved to find it firm. And strong.
The man below pushes me up, and I scrabble away at the ground, my face scrunched in concentration. There is a sudden, painful pull on my right arm, pressure rushing to my bicep, and I gasp as I’m hauled up and over the ledge. My torso finds the ground, then my legs, and Rudra yanks me harder than needed. My body practically sails over the edge, and lands—
Right on top of him.
He falls back with the momentum, our bodies tumbling together. I instinctively grab his T-shirt as we roll on the ground. My hand accidentally slides it up, and my fingers touch his spine, nails digging into his flesh.
As we finally stop a foot away from the edge, clutching each other as if we’re holding on for dear life (which, frankly, we are), I find myself lying astride him, our faces so close my braid brushes his cheek.
I’m suddenly aware of his hands squeezing my hips, tight, as if he’s afraid of letting go. Or as if he doesn’twantto let go.
He pushes my braid off his face and tucks it under the hem of my T-shirt at the nape of my neck, the tips of his fingers hardened from skimming the frets of his guitar and playing bar chords. They rest on the curve of my neck now, the spot he didn’t touch last night, and a visible shiver racks my skin.
I know he sees it, the effect he has on me with the barest of touches.
I need to pull away, but I don’t want to. He looks so hot lying under me like this, my legs on either side of him, his hand gripping my hip with the sort of ferocity that floods my mind with the wildest of thoughts.
Thoughts I should definitelynotbe having right now, at the edge of a cliff with all the college boys and locals staring at us. I can feel their eyes boring into me, but I can’t seem to get a single part of my body to move, can’t seem to get myself to look away from Rudra.
His thumb skims the pulse fluttering in my neck, coming to a stop so it’s resting on the dip in my throat. It takes me a second to realize the rest of his fingers are behind my neck, while his thumb applies the slightest amount of pressure to the front.
His lips hike upward, and his eyes fall from mine to the spot where he’s clutching my neck, making a million sensations come alive inside me. “You look like you’re about to kiss me right now.”
Ohmyfuckinggod.
I immediately push away from him, scrambling to my feet and smoothing my fingers over my clothes and hair. I can’t help it, even when Rudra sits up and looks right at me, challenge swimming in his eyes—I touch my neck, the spot where he gripped me.
